The Adventures of The Port Vale Crew. A bunch of lovely ladies I am proud to call friends. Likes: Robbie Williams & his Music, Football, Comedy, Playing Pool, Take That, Bowling, Going to the Theatre (usually to see Jonny Wilkes or JK as Robbie!) Playing Laydee Lympics, Generally having fun and enjoying life. Dislikes: Haters, liars, cheats. Trains and planes that are late. So pull up a chair and a brew... sit back... relax and follow our journey of fun and friendship!
Search This Blog
Thursday, 10 June 2010
JK as Robbie with the PV CREW!
Well what a weekend it was! The PV Crew were in town and what fun we had...
Headed to the Regent Theatre, Stoke on Saturday to see JK as Robbie on Saturday and then to Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday to see Soccer Aid
FANTASTIC WEEKEND!
Full report to follow, but for now I'd like to share a review I did of the theatre show... One Night of Robbie... If you get a chance to see it you should, the whole evening was a really enjoyable!
Review – One Night of Robbie Williams. Regent Theatre, Stoke. 5th June 2010.
When my friends and I booked “One Night of Robbie Williams” at the Regent Theatre, Stoke were we a little unsure of what to expect. A Robbie tribute… at the theatre? Having seen JK perform at a Christmas Party Night in a hotel last year, we knew that the guy could sing and move – but how was that one man show going to migrate to the big stage?
In the lobby before the show, other patrons were just as curious about what was going to happen during the next 2 hours as we were. After about 45 seconds of the show, our curiosity was quashed as it was blatantly obvious what was going to happen… we were about to have a feast of Robbiness bestowed upon us and be well and truly entertained!
As the band started up with “Let Me Entertain You” and the stage became visible you could clearly see that this was no ordinary “tribute show” and looking down at my ticket I was reminded that this was “An International Stage Show”. This introduction was not selling the show short.
The backdrop had been carefully chosen to reflect the pinnacle of Robbie’s live career – Knebworth – and for JK you could see this night meant as much to him as that did to Rob. With a blast of fireworks, strobe lighting effects and some carefully timed visuals on the big screen above JK and his band; the audience looked in amazement to see that every attention to detail had been covered!
“Good Evening Stoke on Trent!” JK cheered. Around me, I could see that 3 minutes into the show the whole theatre were on their feet. All 1200 of them. Clapping, chanting and bouncing along to Let Me Entertain You as if their lives depended on it! Like Robbie, JK had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.
Moving through the show, the cream of Robbie’s career had been carefully chosen, to be recreated as a celebration of his music. Old and new hits were belted out, with the charisma and charm that fans of Robbie know and love. From the new album, we were treated to Bodies, Morning Sun and You Know Me… where JK referenced Robbie’s memorable appearance on Loose Women. The opening to “Bodies” was as I remember it; from being in the Roundhouse that night at Electric Proms – the band totally together and the 3 backing singers made sure that the “Bodies” and the “Look good naked-s” were note perfect! However…it wouldn’t be a Robbie gig without the obligatory forgetting the odd word or two, and during “Morning Sun”, the audience were more than happy to help JK out as he fluffed one of the lines! “That’s our Rob!” I heard someone next to me say – showing that even a minor faux pas are all part of an evening with Robbie Williams!
If you have been to a Robbie concert, you will know that Rob loves a bit of audience participation and JK was no different. Reminiscing back to the time when I saw Rob in Leeds, “Strong” was greeted by the audience in the very same way! Looking up at the big screen, we could see the words projected for the theatre to join in this big karaoke session – and they did with gusto!
Judging by the expression on JK’s face throughout, he was enjoying every second and at one point later in the show, he asked staff to throw on the house lights so he could see everybody! A sight for sore eyes; JK beamed with delight as 1200 people smiled back at him! Cheeky banter spattered the show; the “gift of eloquence” is certainly part of JK’s DNA. It was as if he had just kissed the Blarney Stone!
Now I’m no seasoned theatre-goer, but have been lucky enough to see a number of amateur shows locally, musicals in regional theatres and a few massive productions on both the West End & Broadway. Throughout all of these, there is one thing in common… you can always tell how the show is being received by the gossip in the “facilities” in the interval! This show was no different. People of all ages were spilling over to talk about the last hour…
“Amazing! He’s just too good” and “I can’t believe he sounds just like him” could be overheard.
“I only came to bring my mum for her birthday, but I’m so glad I did” chirped another.
“Are you sure he’s just a tribute?” another man questioned as he headed back to his seat.
“I wonder when he’s coming back here?” asked another lady….
So far, all was good at the Regent – but little did we know what was in store for us in the second half…
After the interval, JK rejoined us in a dapper suit and a grand piano was centre stage… you knew it was Swing Time! The screen above beamed out “One Night of Robbie Williams recreating Live at the Albert Hall” and true to form, it was certainly recreated. Classics like Mr Bojangles, Things and My Way were delivered with identical style and character that only Robbie can add to these classic tracks. Joined by one of his female singers (from Stoke of course!) for “Things”, JK took front of stage and told us the same cute and romantic story through the performance of Things; that we saw Rob do with Jane Horrocks at the Albert Hall. As the band started to play the first few bars of My Way, we were graced with shots of the original showman himself, Mr Frank Sinatra, adding to the ambiance and atmosphere that was already in the building at that point.
Other highlights of the show (in no particular order) included a local dance troupe break-dancing to “Rudebox” – a tribute to Rob’s local footie team, they were all dressed in Port Vale FC strip…
“Back for Good” – the moshing version. Some of the audience dressed up for a demure night at the theatre; were bouncing around as if at Glastonbury in a muddy field! Others had glow sticks that were cast aloft high into the air in time with the frantic drum beats.
“Kids” – with not 1 but 3 Kylies! Joined by the girls, the trained eye could see that this was taken from one of Kylie’s live shows… where she is Rob-less! JK certainly has his Kylies with him this night!
“Better Man” – not an easy song to sing; and not often performed in live shows; but delivered perfectly and with true emotion.
And we knew when the screen above displayed the “twinkly-twinkly stars” that “Millennium” was on the cards. All around the theatre, the audience stood up and joined in to show JK their best twinkly twinkly fingers!
Other Robbie favourites like Feel, Come Undone and Rock DJ were not forgotten and the crowd reciprocated the energy of each performance by getting on their feet & clapping every single time! JK said he had waited 5 years to play Stoke-on-Trent and it was obvious that he did not want to end this performance prematurely. Glancing at my watch, I realized it was past the 10pm time slot as stated on the ticket. Other patrons commented that they were having such a good time; they didn’t even notice it passing them by.
As the evening drew to a close (and half an hour later than scheduled), the stage went dark and projected into the theatre was a beautiful and emotional clip, showing children and parents whose lives had been enriched by the Donna Louise Trust Hospice in local Trentham.
“Hello, I’m Robbie Williams” boomed out of the PA, and we were in no doubt that this was actually Rob on the voice over. He was “here” to deliver a powerful message about the charity of which he is a patron. As JK came back onto the stage, he delivered a bit of a shock to all in the crowd – one of which was Pete Conway, Rob’s dad - who was there to see the show that night. “As a tribute to the fantastic work that is carried out at the hospice, JK would like to donate 2000pounds to the charity.” The audience were on their feet, to deliver a well deserved standing ovation. There were shocked gasps and a few watery eyes in the crowd. JK and his band then went on to close with Angels, dedicating it to the charity; at which point there was not a dry eye in the house.
The show was over. As people were leaving the chatter was on top note. Compliments could be heard in the lobby about the costumes, the dancing, the band, the visuals and the fitting ending to the night… but most of all, 2 letters could be heard - JK… Stoke’s new adopted son!
To quote a well known ad campaign, Carlsberg don’t do tribute stage shows… but if they did it would be this one. Bravo.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was there on Sat. Great show well done to every1 involved.
ReplyDeleteThe Donna Louise clip left every1 pretty choked up. They do a great job!
fantastic review of the night Sam - its sounds like you had a fabulous time!! I bounced and waved my arms and got teary along with you as I read :)
ReplyDeleteIf you could see me now, I'm singing LMEU and bouncing on my sit! Great review!
ReplyDelete